What GPS

In article <[email hidden]>, Chris Malcolm "]<URL:[email hidden]>
wrote: [snip]

Quoted message said:

I decided on a non-mapping unit with the additions of compass and altimeter, and got the now
somewhat outdated Garmin eTrex Summit, a model which has infuriated several folk here, but which I
still like and certainly won't upgrade until all the features I like about it, which include size
and ruggedness, are preserved in an improved model.

See

dai.ed.ac.uksummit.shtmlOpen ↗

for my impressions of my Summit.

I originally used the Summit but about a year ago I upgraded to the Geko301 which I now use almost
exclusively. It does everything the Summit did and with much better software. The only major
difference is in the comparison of the weights and batteries. The Geko301 uses AAA, and the Summit
uses AA. The Geko301 is lighter and smaller than the Summit. The screen resolution of the Geko301 is
higher even though the physical size is smaller. The Summit "big compass" mode is perhaps slightly
better in poor light conditions if you are in the habit of doing lot of night navigation and equally
the AA batteries will provide more light for longer under such circumstances.

Mike <URL:http://www.path.cam.ac.uk/~mrc7/>
--
o/ \\ // |\ ,_ o Mike Clark <\__,\\ // __o | \ / /\, "A mountain climbing, cycling, skiing, "> ||
_`\<,_ |__\ \> | immunology lecturer, antibody engineer and ` || (_)/ (_) | \corn computer user"

In article <[email hidden]>, Boo

url='mailto:boo@spam_me_no_spam.net'URL:mailto:boo@spam_me_no_spam.net/url said:

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

I suggest you consider the Garmin Geko 201 or 301, unless you really want a unit capable of
displaying downloadable maps.

....and if you don't mind buying a fresh set of alkaline AAAs each time you go walking.

There are rechargeable NiMH AAA batteries and chargers available though the capacity's not as good
as the AA ones.

But in practice I've found the AAA NiMh in the Geko301 to be quite adequate. Yesterday I did a 28km
walk using my Geko301 in continuous mode and the total trip time was nearly 7 hours, including
stops. The battery gauge at the end was still showing 3 bars. I tend not to use the electronic
compass much which would consume the power more quickly. I carry a spare set of cells but have only
ever had to change them once in a day.

Mike <URL:http://www.path.cam.ac.uk/~mrc7/>
--
o/ \\ // |\ ,_ o Mike Clark <\__,\\ // __o | \ / /\, "A mountain climbing, cycling, skiing, "> ||
_`\<,_ |__\ \> | immunology lecturer, antibody engineer and ` || (_)/ (_) | \corn computer user"

In article <[email hidden]>, Chris

url='mailto:proteus1@gmxDOTnet'URL:mailto:proteus1@gmxDOTnet/url said:

druidh said:

Quoted message said:

...and if you don't mind buying a fresh set of alkaline AAAs each time you go walking.

????

I use NIMH AAA's with my Geko 301. Why would anyone want to buy fresh Alkakines?

Garmin usually quote battery life figures assuming you are going to use the power-saving option
with alkaline batteries (ie the best-case scenario). With the Geko I think they quote around 12
hours. If you want to use NiMH cells with normal GPS operation I would have thought even with
newish and freshly charged cells 8 hours+ operation would be doubtful. If you can guarantee this
with 2 rechargeable AAAs with *normal* operation then I stand corrected. The reports I have read
seem to imply otherwise. I think the Geko is a very neat unit, but I also think Garmin would have
been better sticking with AA cells based on current battery technology. The NiCD and NiMH AAA
rechargeables I have used have never impressed me.

Yes but whats wrong with having to change batteries every 8 hours of use? I have always
carried spare cells, even when I used a Summit with AA cells. Certainly the weight and size
saving on a Geko301 allows many more spare sets of cells to be carried for the same weight and
space in a rucksack.

Mike <URL:http://www.path.cam.ac.uk/~mrc7/>
--
o/ \\ // |\ ,_ o Mike Clark <\__,\\ // __o | \ / /\, "A mountain climbing, cycling, skiing, "> ||
_`\<,_ |__\ \> | immunology lecturer, antibody engineer and ` || (_)/ (_) | \corn computer user"

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

...and if you don't mind buying a fresh set of alkaline AAAs each time you go walking.

I find the Vista lasts long enough to use Duracell dry cells rather than the re-chargeables, now
that they are so cheap. In fact I brought some home from US, they are silly prices over there!

I saw some normal (ie non-alkaline) AA batteries in a pound shop for 99p for 32. I don't know what
the lifetime would be like in a gps but if you got a day out of a pair then they'd be a steal.

--
Boo

Quoted message said:

Yesterday I did a 28km walk using my Geko301 in continuous mode and the total trip time was nearly
7 hours, including stops.

That's good going ! Where was the trip, may I ask ?

--
Boo

Boo <boo@spam_me_no_spam.net> wrote

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

...and if you don't mind buying a fresh set of alkaline AAAs each time you go walking.

I find the Vista lasts long enough to use Duracell dry cells rather than the re-chargeables, now
that they are so cheap. In fact I brought some home from US, they are silly prices over there!

I saw some normal (ie non-alkaline) AA batteries in a pound shop for 99p for 32. I don't know what
the lifetime would be like in a gps but if you got a day out of a pair then they'd be a steal.

I get 2 or 3 of my kind of days out of two Duracell AAs. :-)

They also recover better after a rest, and don't die quite as finally as re-chargeables, but I do
use the NiMh alternately with the dry cells.
--
Gordon

Michael Brockhurst said:

I'm seriously thinking of buying a GPS for walking soon. I want to use it with the computer and
maps so I can store OS reference points as I expect to reach them. Can you recommend me a best buy
by telling me about your, should you have one, and the satisfaction and reliability it gives you.

Hi Michael, I've just bought a Garmin eTrex (the standard yellow model) and PC cable from
globalpositioningsystems.co.uk and am really pleased with it. It's very sensitive and accurate and
keeps a firm lock on the satellites.

Last week I was walking up in the Peaks towards Kinder and for most of the route had the eTrex
switched on in the side knee-high pocket on my walking bottoms. It kept a good lock and recorded the
entire route.

Then using GARtrip (www.gartrip.de) I was able to pull the recorded data out and visually see the
programmed route with the actual track taken overlayed on top. GARtrip was able to show the exact
time I was at each point of the walk, the distance covered, a diagram of waypoints against altitude
(clearly shows 360m for Lantern Pike, for example), and loads of other details.

GARtrip also allows you to take an image of any map you like, calibrate it and overlay the routes,
waypoints and tracks on top. I took a jpg screenshot of a map of the Kinder/Little Hayfield region
from Autoroute, calibrated it in GARtrip (using the original in Autoroute to get the Lat/Lon) and
overlayed the actual route on top, which shows the path going past Kinder Reservoir. You could scan
a portion of your OS map on a flatbed scanner if you wanted, for example.

The eTrex and GARtrip also support Landranger Ordnance Survey

co-ords instead of Lat/Lon. There are a load of screenshots (many animated so give them a chance to
show you everything) of GARtrip on their site. There are also plenty of other software products to
choose from, some of them free.

I would be inclined to stay away from mapping GPS units, not because they're not useful or good but
because the maps are never as detailed as you'd like so you have to get out the OS maps anyway - in
which case don't waste your money on the feature. Best thing is to read up on what the various
offerings can do and get it down to two or three models and make a choice from there. There are
plenty of reviews and opinions on the Web and via grous.google.com, and that's what led me to the
eTrex. I came down to the Garmin eTrex or the Garmin Gecko 201, with the Magellan SporTrak a
possibility too).

--
Chris

I'm tempted to buy the Garmin GPS76 or 76S unit but have concerns about the battery life. They look
better and you lot seem to prefer them to Magellan. Is my choice ok in your view?

"]news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

"Michael Brockhurst" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
"]news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

I'm seriously thinking of buying a GPS for walking soon. I want to use

it

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

with the computer and maps so I can store OS reference points as I

expect

Quoted message said:

to

Quoted message said:

reach them. Can you recommend me a best buy by telling me about your,

should

Quoted message said:

you have one, and the satisfaction and reliability it gives you.

Many thanks, Mike

Web Site: www.walkingenglishman.com

Quoted message said:

Thanks a lot guys. Super help. I'm off shopping now!

What did you decide on?

Michael Brockhurst said:

I'm tempted to buy the Garmin GPS76 or 76S unit but have concerns about the battery life. They
look better and you lot seem to prefer them to Magellan. Is my choice ok in your view?

Absolutely! Get the 76S. What concerns you about the battery life? It's bound to be better than
the Gekos.

Paul
--
wilderness-wales.co.ukwilderness-wales.co.ukOpen ↗
wildwales.fsnet.co.ukwildwales.fsnet.co.ukOpen ↗
photosig.comuserphotosOpen ↗

Mike Clark said:

Yes but whats wrong with having to change batteries every 8 hours of use? I have always carried
spare cells, even when I used a Summit with AA cells. Certainly the weight and size saving on a
Geko301 allows many more spare sets of cells to be carried for the same weight and space in a
rucksack.

It depends whether or not it interferes with what you are doing. I don't usually walk around holding
my GPS, and if you use a GPS primarily to record a tracklog (as I often do), and you are not aware
when the batteries expire, then you won't get a complete track. Mine has an audible alert but it is
not always that audible in my experience, and nor is it always convenient to change the batteries
presuming you do become aware this is necessary. The point with units which run off larger and more
batteries is that I will always expire well before the batteries do, so I never need spares.

It seems to me that the move to smaller, lighter units is all well and good, but somewhat counter-
productive if there is then a need to carry spare batteries. This does not mean I would turn my nose
up at a Geko if someone were to give me one, but rather that I think it's a shame Garmin did not
stick to AAs as in their Etrex range.

Boo said:

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

...and if you don't mind buying a fresh set of alkaline AAAs each time you go walking.

I find the Vista lasts long enough to use Duracell dry cells rather than the re-chargeables, now
that they are so cheap. In fact I brought some home from US, they are silly prices over there!

I saw some normal (ie non-alkaline) AA batteries in a pound shop for 99p for 32. I don't know what
the lifetime would be like in a gps but if you got a day out of a pair then they'd be a steal.

A mate of mine bought some "Get Ready" batteries at that kind of price once. I think he felt the
"steal" was from him.
--
Phil Cook looking north over the park to the "Westminster Gasworks"

Chris <proteus1@gmxDOTnet.?> wrote

Quoted message said:

Mike Clark said:

Yes but whats wrong with having to change batteries every 8 hours of use?

It depends whether or not it interferes with what you are doing. I don't usually walk around
holding my GPS, and if you use a GPS primarily to record a tracklog (as I often do), and you are
not aware when the batteries expire, then you won't get a complete track.

It took me a while to figure out why mine had switched itself off during a 4m exercise walk today.
:-( I had stuck a couple of part used AA dry cells in as it wasn't a serious (!) walk.

Exercise walk nothing - there was a sprinkling of snow on the ground, frost on the fields, crispness
in the air, and a biting cold wind that kept me to 4 layers until the last half of the walk. The
distant hills were clear, and I wished I was on them, Kinder looking attractive.......

I turned around and could see the outline of Runcorn Bridge, without the binoculars, 28.5 miles
distant. I forgot the binocs and the camera anyway.......
--
Gordon

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

I saw some normal (ie non-alkaline) AA batteries in a pound shop for 99p for 32. I don't know what
the lifetime would be like in a gps but if you got a day out of a pair then they'd be a steal.

A mate of mine bought some "Get Ready" batteries at that kind of price once. I think he felt the
"steal" was from him.

They were no good then ? The ones I saw are branded Powercell and I bought 10 "C" size cells for the
same 99p. They've gone into the front door bell but it's too soon to see how well they last - the
set that were in there must've lasted more than 4 years. Of course those ones were alkaline...

--
Boo

I bought one of those bumper bundles of AA batteries for a pound from a market stall. In a Garmin
12XL, four lasted less than 30 minutes. They looked very Albanian and I threw the rest.

David

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

I saw some normal (ie non-alkaline) AA batteries in a pound shop for 99p for 32. I don't
know what the lifetime would be like in a gps but if you got a day out of a pair then they'd
be a steal.

--
Discovery Walking Guides Ltd www.walking.demon.co.uk & The Indestructible Map Company

"David" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
"]news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

I bought one of those bumper bundles of AA batteries for a pound from a market stall. In a Garmin
12XL, four lasted less than 30 minutes. They looked very Albanian and I threw the rest.

You'll be hearing from the Albanian Embassy very shortly.

bbc.co.uk20040121.shtmlOpen ↗

Gwyn